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| A Taytch (Yiddish)-Hebrew edition of Kav haYashar. |
INTRODUCTION:
The
Chassidic movement, founded by R. Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (1698/1700-1760) is
known as a populist movement which swept through the Jewish world like a
religious revival if not a revolution. We are often told that prior to its
emergence in around 1730, the Jewish religious world was primarily the domain
of a combination of non-mystical scholars and elitist mystics - and that the simple populace was
excluded from any meaningful involvement with Judaism. Then the Baal Shem Tov
came and, for the first time, brought the hitherto elitist mystical traditions
to the ordinary people and opened new channels of mystical experience for the
average individual seeking spiritual nourishment.
Historically, however correct some of these assertions may be, this is only part of the story of the Jewish spiritual renaissance of the eighteenth century. Its roots went back deeper in time to two previous extremely effective spiritual movements beginning about a century earlier.
Both these movements successfully brought
mysticism to the masses:
1) THE
RISE AND SPREAD OF LURIANIC KABBALAH (1630):
Although
the Safed-based[1] R.
Yitzchak Luria (1534-1572) - the Ari Zal - founder of Lurianic Kabbalah,
was active during the sixteenth century, he did not commit his teachings to
writing. It was only a generation later, through his various (and competitive)
students that the teachings were eventually disseminated. [See The Battle for the Soul of the Ari
Zal.]
The date
given for the emergence of Lurianic Kabbalah is 1630 (almost sixty years
after the passing of the Ari Zal) because that was when these mystical teachings
were first published. [See Root Causes of the Sabbatian
Movement.]
2) THE
EMERGENCE OF THE SABBATIAN MOVEMENT (1666):
Building on
the fast-spreading and very popular Lurianic Kabbalah, the Sabbatian
movement of the false messiah Shabbatai Tzvi (1626-1676) [See Roots Run Deep] was able to build upon the notion
of exile and redemption, tikkun and geulah which was to become so
crucial to Sabbatian messianic ideology. It could be said that the Sabbatian
movement was the most successful Jewish movement in millennia when one
considers that close to if not the majority of Jews and respected rabbis subscribed to it
during its peak at around 1666.
Essentially,
both movements had one thing in common – the dissemination of previously
elitist and exclusive mysticism to the masses. The Sabbatian ideology as
developed by Shabbatai Tzvi's 'prophet' and idealogue, Natan haAzati (Nathan of Gaza), was extremely Kabbalistic and
radically mystical. One must remember that this was not just a fringe messianic movement of the few but a full-fledged mystical awakening with writings,
teachings and books directed at the masses.
Both the Lurianic
Kabbalah movement and the Sabbatian movement successfully brought Kabbalah
to the people.
3) THE
CHASSIDIC MOVEMENT (1734/6):
The
Chassidic movement of 1734/6[2]
was the third successful attempt within a century to create a popular movement
bringing mysticism to masses.
YIDDISH
ETHICAL TEXTS AS A CONDUIT FOR MYSTICAL IDEOLOGY:
One unusual
field of inquiry is the role ethical and mystical texts newly translated into
Yiddish, had to play as a conduit for Kabbalistic thought during the
latter part of the seventeenth century - particularly during the period between
Shabbatai Tzvi and the Baal Shem Tov.
On
reflection though, this is not all that surprising because Yiddish was the
vernacular and therefore an obvious means of communicating these mystical ideas
to the populace.
This
article is based extensively on the research of Professor Jean Baumgarten[3],
the Director of Research at Centre de Recherches Historiques in Paris,
France. He is a specialist in Old Yiddish Literature[4].
What emerges from his investigation into this little-known
field is that as the mystical teachings became popular and widespread during
the seventeenth century - in addition to their theosophy - mystical theurgical practices
such as amulets for protection, demonology, exorcisms became common. The medium
often used to discuss these phenomena was Yiddish. Primary mystical texts had
previously been predominantly in Hebrew and Aramaic but they were now being
translated into Yiddish so as to become more accessible to all the people.
Three centuries later, I recall my bobba and zaida
who hailed from Russia and Lithuania, still being proud of their Yiddish
literature which included prayer books and some commentary. I wish I would have
kept those texts.
The works which were beginning to get translated into
Yiddish in the seventeenth century included some rather technical material as
well. These dealt with ethical, mystical and theurgical matters.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE ZOHAR:
To give an idea as to how popular mysticism was becoming,
the (original) Zohar had only been published twice during the
seventeenth century[5],
but it was edited fifteen times during the eighteenth century.
Additionally, these were followed by about twenty commentaries on and
anthologies of the Zohar.[6]
Baumgarten (2007:74) points out that during that period, the
study of Kabbalah had become so popular that it was “a major
ingredient of the religious culture”.
Faierstein (2005)[7]
shows that in Basel in 1602, quotations from the Zohar and other
mystical texts were appearing in Yiddish literature such as the Brantshpigl.
In Frankfurt in 1674 parts of the Ari Zal’s liturgy, such as his viduy,
were translated into Yiddish.
Interestingly, this seems to have been part of an ongoing
tradition to write mystical literature in Yiddish. One of the most important
early writers in Old Yiddish was Eliyahu Bachur (1469-1549). [See Elihahu
Bachur -Teaching Kabbalah to Cardinals?]
A) KAV
HAYASHAR BY
R. TZVI HIRSCH KOIDANOVER (d. 1712):
A very
popular mystical work emerged in 1705, Kav haYashar by R. Tsvi
Hirsh Koidanover. The work is very much fire and brimstone. Its goal was to
awake the fear of sin and transgression, to stress the sinfulness of the
generation and to call for collective repentance. Simple Jews are criticised for
their improper behaviour as are the wealthy and powerful leadership of the communities. They are responsible all for the delay
in the process of redemption. It
is a fiery ethical work exhorting people to mend their ways and to fulfil
G-d's commandments. It contains wondrous tales emphasising the punishment of
the wicked and the reward of the righteous.
A bilingual
edition in both Hebrew and Yiddish came out in 1709.
The work
was so popular that it was reprinted more than fifty times up to the twentieth
century and there are about eighty editions to date.
ALLEGATIONS
OF SABBATIANISM IN KAV HAYASHAR:
Although Kav haYashar was extremely popular, Baumgarten
writes that:
Several indications prove that
the author could be related to the Shabbatean movement.
1) One of these can be seen in the very title where those
familiar with the Kabbalistic writings of Shabbatai Tzvi’s prophet and
promoter, Nathan of Gaza, will recognise his signature version of Tzimtzum
taken from Lurianic Kabbalah. G-d’s Or haMachshava (thoughtful
light), as opposed to His ‘thoughtless light’, is said to beam into the Tehiru
(vacated space) by means of the Kav haYashar (straight line) which
penetrates it.
2) Another indication is the book’s mention of a Sabbatian
activist R. Yehudah Chassid known as the Maggid of Sziedlow (1660-1700).[8]
He promoted an early aliya to the Land of Israel, and travelled around
Europe promoting asceticism and teshuva, gathering a group of about 1 500
people. His followers were known as Chassidim.[9]
A third of them died of hardships on the journey and between 500 and 1000 Ashkenazim
eventually arrived in Jerusalem on October 14, 1700, creating a crisis in the
city which already had 200 Ashkenazim and 1000 Sefaradim and could barely sustain itself.
The Jewish community of Jerusalem lived off charities
collected from Europe and the community couldn’t cope with this large influx of
immigrants. Besides this, the group was suspected of being Ma’aminim (Believers)
as the Sabbatians were then called.[10]
The opponents were called Kofrim (Deniers), giving some idea of
how popular the Sabbatian movement was in its day. The new arrivals built their
own synagogue but the community could not sustain itself, and as a result, all
Ashkenazim were banned from Jerusalem. The synagogue became known as the famous
Churvat Yehuda Chassid[11],
or destroyed synagogue, after the Ottoman authorities
demolished it in 1721 when the Jews did not pay their taxes.
3) Furthermore,
Kav haYashar quotes R. Herschel Tzoref, who is referred to as “our
teacher”. The author writes “[This] is what I received of the
divine person, our master Rav Heschel Tsoref, za’l”. R. Herschel Tzoref was known to have associated
with, at first the early Nistarim, and then the secret Sabbatians.
Baumgarten
writes:
This desire for individual improvement
and collective purification led to the publication of treatises that attempted
to create a synthesis of ascetic, penitential practices, messianic speculations
and kabbalistic themes, in particular through the use of kavvanot, yihudim and
meditation on the letters of the prayers….
Tsvi Hirsh Koidanover stressed
ethical values and penitential practices typical of the post-Shabbatean
literature of the 18th century…
The main theme of the work is the battle between good and
evil. The world is saturated with negative forces controlled by Lilith,
Ashmedai and Samael who want to control creation.
This book is a remarkable
example of the penetration of magic and kabbalistic notions in the popular
Jewish literature, especially demonology, the life after death and the
transmigration of the souls.
At the centre of this cosmic drama is man and his every deed
has direct bearing on the balance between Satan and Redemption. R. Tzvi Hirsch Koidanover
warns his readers of the damage sin has on the upper realms which can only be
mitigated by penitence, fasts, mortification, confession and the recitation of
the divine names.[12]
THE
YIDDISH TRANSLATION OF KAV HAYASHAR:
With the Yiddish
translation of Kav haYashar in 1709, we see how that language was used
(either inadvertently or intentionally) as means of disseminating the authority
of neo-mystical and possibly Sabbatian ideology.
Although
the work was clearly interested in disseminating mysticism to the people, in an
interesting section in chapter 102, there is an explanation as to why certain
matters must nevertheless still remain hidden. The Yiddish translation reads:
[U]n ikh hob oykh deroyf ayn
terets nor men tor dos nit megale zayn nor tsu frume layt.
And I have an explanation [regarding a certain matter], but we may not reveal it
to just anyone, only to ‘frum’[13]
people.
The Hebrew
text reads: “And there is another secret [regarding a certain
matter] that I do not want to reveal to everyone…”
Even though
classical Kabbalah does discuss sod or secrets,
considering the time and context one wonders just what that particular “explanation”
or “secret” was that was being withheld and only privy to the initiated?[14]
The
question becomes compounded when we consider, as Baumgarten continues, that:
In Central and Eastern Europe,
after the mystical apostasy and the death of Shabbatai Tsvi (1676)…[there was][15]
a circulation of Shabbatean propaganda, especially in small underground groups
of ascetic pietists and mystics in which the ideology of the « believers »
(ma’aminim) was diffused and Nathan’s writings were copied, studied, along with
the Zohar and ethical and kabbalistic texts.
B) DERECH
HAYASHAR LEOLAM HABA BY R. YECHIEL MICHEL EPSTEIN:
R. Yechiel Michel Epstein[16]
produced his Derech haYashar leOlam haBa which was intended
for “simple readers, women and young girls.” He was also suspected of being
a secret Sabbatian. He writes in his preface to the book:
Those who live in large
communities where there are one or more rabbis, learned men or doctors of the
law, can pose a question to the rav. But (this is not the case for) those
who live in small communities and yeshuvim, where there is no one to
teach (unter rikhtn) or advise (unter vayzn) them from time to time.
That is why I have produced this book, so that people may learn from it…
I hope it will be of use to
them, that they will follow what they find in it, and will read other books in
Yiddish (taytsh) in which they will find laws (dinim)[17],
like Lev tov, Brantshpigl or Sefer ha-yire”[18]
BOOKS
FOR “SIMPLE READERS, WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS”:
R. Yechiel
Michel Epstein’s reference to “women and young girls”[19]
is significant in light of the fact that one of the less-known contributions of
the Sabbatain movement was their elevation of the role of women in Judaism.
Baumgarten
writes:
Shabbatean theology gave a major
role to women. This transformation could be seen, especially, in the aliyah of
women in shul, the promotion of equality of sex and the participation of women
to circles of study. We have testimonies of Jewish women from Shabbatean
circles who studied the Zohar in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Altona…
There also is a collection of letters and responsa where
opponents of the Sabbatian movement, like R. Moshe Chagiz and the Nodah
beYehuda objected to seeing the Zohar studied in Yiddish by men,
women and children, who had no technical knowledge of mysticism.[20]
C) SEFER
TIKUNEI HA’MOADIM:
The first
chapter of another work entitled Sefer Tikunei haMoadim reads:
Everyone thinks that when he as
learned how to study a page of Gemore, he has become a scholar and he never
looks at another holy book. But, dear people, know that when a man has studied
the entire Gemore and the Toysefes without having any knowledge of the secrets
and wisdom of the kabbalah, he is, in comparison to those who do have such
knowledge, like a child who has only begun to study….
Rabbi Shimeon bar Yohai wrote
the Zohar so that everyone could take pleasure in it and so that, thanks to
that splendid instruction, one might attain the world to come….
Some people think that when it
is a matter of the science of the kabbalah, then it is necessary that one be a
master of the Holy names and have all kinds of knowledge about how to vanquish
demons and evil spirits. But that is a different kind of wisdom, called
practical kabbalah of the celestial realm, [where][21]
the grandeur and power and the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, is
taught.[22]
This is a significant extract because, although published in
1725, it foreshadows an attitude that was later adopted by the Chassidic
movement where the mind is similarly set at ease to permit delving into the mystical teachings. This is
because:
1)
Mysticism is essentially
the core spirit of Torah knowledge.
2)
Its study is indeed permitted
as it falls under the rubric of theosophy (mystical theology or theoretical
Kabbalah) as opposed to theurgy (magic or practical Kabbalah).
As Baumgarten (p.75) puts it:
The semi-literate could now
become initiated into the « mysteries of the world » through [what was until
then][23]
“sealed books”…
These were ideas that were sent out in the vernacular to the
masses of ordinary people, prior to the advent of Chassidism,
encouraging the study of mysticism. The problem was, as we have seen, that many
of these Yiddish works were somewhat tainted with allegations of Sabbatian
mystical propaganda.
D) NACHALAT TZVI OR TAYTCH ZOHAR BY R. TZVI
HIRSCH CHOTSCH:
An abridged Yiddish translation of the Zohar was
written by R. Tzvi Hirsh Chotsch and published in Frankfort in 1711, again
showing how popular Kabbalah was with the wider community. By the
twentieth century it had been reprinted about fifty times, later under the
title Nofet Tzufim.
R. Tzvi Hirsh Chotsch explains in his book why he chose to
translate parts of the Zohar into Yiddish:
In our country, the language for
everyone is Yiddish, so that those who are educated should not think it
shameful to read holy books in Yiddish (taytshe sforim). Thus it is that here
the language of the Zohar should be Yiddish. I have therefore introduced into
this book many fine peshotim that appear in the Zohar… so that this holy book
should awaken the fear of God in the hearts of everyone….
The redemption could not come
quickly, except if we read it (the Zohar), each (Jew) according to his
perception and comprehension…. The learned (yodei sefer) must not be ashamed to
read the Zohar in the language of the people, because it was written in the
popular language [i.e. Aramaic][24]
of the former generations…
Scholem writes:
It is not accidental that the
author of the first attempt to vulgarize parts of the Zohar in Yiddish was a
Shabbatean…[25]
E) CHEMDAT TZVI:
In 1706, R. Tzvi Hirsh Chotsch wrote a commentary on the Tikkunei
Zohar which was regarded as so controversial due to its alleged Sabbatian
ideology, that he was forced to flee from Poland (where he was associated with
R. Herschel Tzoref) to Germany.
SABBATIAN RABBIS:
To fully understand the rabbinic milieu of the two decades
between Shabbatai Tzvi and the Baal Shem Tov, we must consider the surprisingly
large number of rabbis who were Sabbatians. To list just a few:
In Bohemia, there was R. Yisachar Behr Perlhefter
(1650-1713), the travelling Sabbatian preacher who was related to R.
Yonatan Eibeschuetz (1690-1764) who was also famously suspected of being a
Sabbatian. R. Perlhelfer was the first Maggid who taught in the
Sabbatian yeshiva established in Jerusalem in 1701 by R. Avraham Rovigo.
In Prague there was R. Mordechai Eisenstadt (c.1650-1729),
an ascetic preacher, and his brother, probably R. Meir Eisenstadt (the teacher
of R. Yonatan Eibeschuetz), who travelled through Germany and Italy attracting
a large following. He was a “moderate Sabbatian” claiming that Shabbatai
Tzvi was only Mashiach ben Yosef, and exhorting the people not to lose faith in
the immanent redemption.
In Moravia and Silesia, R.
Leibele Prossnitz (1670-1730) was connected to R. Tsvi Hirsch Chotch,
author of Nachalat Tzvi, and (also) proclaimed himself to be the
Messiah.
In Chevron there was R. Meir Rofe, regarded as the greatest
scholar in Chevron and the Rosh Yeshiva of Chessed leAvraham. He had
earlier been associated with Nathan of Gaza, the great Sabbatian ideologue.
In Reggio there was R. Binyamin Cohen who brazenly displayed
a portrait of Shabbatai Tzvi in his home.
In Amsterdam and London there was R.
Shlomo Aailion who had also studied with
Nathan of Gaza and went on to headed the Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam
which was the focus of much Sabbatian activity.
AUTHORS OF ETHICAL WORKS:
Commensurate with the list of just some of the secret
Sabbatians mentioned above, Baumgarten points out that:
Many of the most influential
moral preachers and authors of moral literature of a radical ascetic bent were
secret Shabbateans. Some musar-sefarim of this period belong to this category…
Thus we see how Sabbatians were taking advantage and control
of the Yiddish language (taytch) to reach wider audiences than just
Hebrew readers, “thus making the vernacular language a vector for the themes
of Jewish mysticism.”
This concurs with the view of Scholem who writes:
Some kabbalists who also wrote
moral tracts in Yiddish belong to this camp (the secrets Shabbateans) such as
Tsvi Hirsh ben Yerahmeel Chotsch and Yehiel Mikhl Epstein.[26]
On the other hand, there is the view of Yehoshua Horowitz,
who writes:
It is very doubtful whether he
[Yechiel Michel Epstein][27]
had any associations with the Shabbatean movement.[28]
However, there is certainty that both R. Tzvi Hirsh
Koidanover (Kav haYashar) and R. Tzvi Hirsh Chotsch (Nachalat
Tzvi/Taytch Zohar/Nofet Tzufim) were linked to the circle of the known
Sabbatian R. Heschel Tzoref.
THE ‘DE-SANCTIFICATION’ OF ORIGINAL TEXTS:
Besides the
some of the Yiddish texts brushing against elements of Sabbatianism, there was
also the more general concern for the ‘de-sanctification’ of the original
Hebrew and Aramaic rabbinical texts. Baumgarten (p.88) puts it as follows:
The “vernacularization” of the
Jewish tradition leads to a de-sacralisation of the authoritative nature of the
text which does not cause the same kind of respect, but rather introduces a
more free, individual, reading and rewriting, independent of the talmidei
hakhamim...
The novelty comes from the
practices of reading canonical texts, as the Zohar, which was grasped by new
groups of readers on the fringes and read in a way that escaped the control of
the rabbis.
THE ROLE OF THE MAGID:
Baumgarten (p.90) explains that from the text and style of Nachalat
Tzvi we can discern the role of a particular type of roving preacher, or magid,
who would have led small but independent study circles for less learned men,
women, and children, gathering in private homes and delving into basic
mysticism of the Zohar:
The Nahalat Tsvi is an
interesting testimony about the ways the Zohar was disseminated in Yiddish in
18th century Ashkenazi society…
These testimonies show new
channels of diffusion of the “mystical” tradition in vernacular, especially
among small Shabbateans fraternities, parallel to the communal authorities and
constituting an alternative sociability.
Interestingly, this style of disseminating mysticism to the
masses was later adopted by the Chassidic maggidim who appear in
dominant roles as that movement begins to grow during the eighteenth century.
THE EMERGENCE OF CHASSIDIC LITERATURE:
The early itinerant preachers of the Chassidic
movement continued to use this style and approach in further empowering the
laity. This is why so many early Chassidic leaders were tainted with
allegations of Sabbatian influence particularly from R. Herschel Tzoref and R.
Yaakov Koppel Lifschitz. [See Sefer haTzoref – Were these the Secret
Writings which had to be Hidden?]
[See Yaakov
Koppel Lifschitz – A Sabbatian who Influenced the Baal Shem Tov?]
Baumgarten (p. 91) writes:
It should be noted that most of
the mystical texts in Yiddish and above all the Kav ha-yashar were published in
the period just preceding the rise of Hasidism…
[M]any themes seem to prepare
the reception and dissemination of Hasidic ideas among Jewish people. We can
consider Kav ha-yashar as a kind of pre or proto-Hasidic text in Yiddish…
When such books as Yaakov Yosef of Polonnoye’s
Toledot Yaakov Yosef, Dov Ber’s Maggid Devarav Le-Yaakov or the anonymous
Tsava'at ha-Ribash (“The Testament of the Besht”) were published, the cultural
ground or background was prepared to receive such Hasidic treatises.
Moshe Idel[29]
shows how themes prevalent in Kav haYashar were soon to reoccur in later
Chassidic literature. These included deveikut, specific kavanah, hitbodedut
and hamshacha and other similar ideas that were to become associated
with Chassidism.
It is for these reasons that Baumgarten argues that:
[W]e must analyze and put back
the Yiddish ethical-mystical printed production in the continuum of the history
of the Jewish mystics, as an intermediate landmark, a point of contact between
the kabbalistic books and the major Hasidic texts.
[1] The Ari Zal actually only spent the last
three years of his life in Safed arriving there in 1569 (after little success
in Jerusalem). Although born in Jerusalem, he spent most of his life in Egypt.
[2] The Baal Shem Tov
is said to have revealed himself and his teachings to the world when he was 36 years old.
[3]
Baumgarten, J. 2007. Yiddish
ethical texts and the diffusion of the Kabbalah in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem, 18. Pp. 73-91.
[4] Old
Yiddish is considered to have existed between 1300 to 1780; Haskalah and
Chassidic Yiddish literature from 1780 to about 1890; and modern Yiddish from
1864 to the present.
[5]
This was in Lublin, 1623 and Sulzbach, 1683.
[6] B.
Huss, “Hashabbtaut ve-toldot hitkabelut Sefer ha-Zohar”, Jerusalem
Studies in Jewish Thought, The Sabbatian Movement and Its Aftermath.
Messianism, Sabbatianism and Frankism, Rachel Elior ed., tome 17, Jerusalem,
Hebrew University, 2001, pp. 59-60.
[7] M.
M. Faierstein, the Influence of Kabbalah on early Modern Yiddish Literature
prior to 1648, paper delivered at the Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem,
2005.
[8]
See Kav haYashar, Chapter 11.
[9]
Not to be confused with the Chassidim of the Baal Shem Tov who emerged
three decades later.
[10]
See Aviezer Ravitzky, Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish religious
radicalism. 1996, page 228
[11] This
synagogue was rebuilt in 1864 by the Perushim (the students of the Vilna
Gaon) only to be destroyed in 1948 by the Arab Legion. It was restored in 2010.
[12]
See Baumgarten, J. 2004 “From Translation to Commentary: The Kav ha-yosher
(Francfort, 1709)”, Journal of Jewish Studies, pp. 269-287.
[13]
The Hebrew reads latzenuim, to the ‘humble’.
[14] Sometimes the Yiddish translations
revert to the expediency of sod, for mere pragmatic reasons, such as
when the original text is too complicated, technical and cumbersome. Baumgarten
(p.86) shows how in the introduction to Nachalat Tzvi, for
example, we read :“when an ordinary man (gemeyner man) wants to study Zohar,
he will choose the ethical teachings (muser), the revealed parts, the simple
words (devorim peshutim) and stories according to the literal meaning (deyrekh
peshute)”. In these instances the technichalities are omitted and the
translator refers to them as sod.
[15]
Parenthesis mine.
[16] Not to be confused with R. Yechiel
Michel haLevi Epstein (1829-1908), author of Aruch haShulchan.
[17]
In Yiddish, dinim could not only mean technical law as in Halacha
but also refer more generally to customs, approaches and even religious
attitudes.
[18]
See another paper by Jean Baumgarten, The Printing of Yiddish Books in
Frankfurt-on-the-Main (17th and 18th Centuries)
L’impression de livres yiddish Ã
Frankfort aux xviie et xviiie siècles.
Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem, 20, p. 9.
[19] A similar reference to women is also
found in the Yiddish translation of parts of the Zohar, entitled Nachalat
Tzvi by R. Tzvi Hirsh Chotch. In an approbation to Nachalat Tzvi, R. Wolf of
Dessau explains that the author “has the pure intention to print revealed
words of the Zohar which could be said in any language that women can hear
(understand)”. (See the section further on Nachalat Tzvi.)
[20] See
A. Rapoport-Albert, “Al ha-ma’amad ha-nashim be-shabbtaut”, Jerusalem Studies
in Jewish Thought, tome 17, R. Elior ed., Jerusalem, Hebrew University, 2001,
pp. 239-249.
[21] Parenthesis mine.
[22] Sefer
Tikunei haMoadim, Fürth, 1725, fol. 13b.
[23] Parenthesis mine.
[24]
Parenthesis mine.
[25]
While Baumgarten (p. 84) does point out that the process of a Yiddish
translation of the Zohar actually began with R. Tzvi Hirsh Chotch’s
great-great grandfather as far back as 1601, however, the process was refined,
imbued with a spirit of messianism and completed around 1711. Baumgarten writes
(p.88): “This dismembering of the Zohar introduced a distance towards
scriptural authority, a form of de-canonization of the literality aspect of the
Zohar which could be subject to textual manipulations and transformations.”
[26] G.
Scholem, “Shabbatai Zevi”, Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 14, col. 1248.
[27]
Parenthesis mine.
[28] Y. Horowitz, “Epstein, Jehiel Michal ben Abraham ha-levi”, Encyplopedia Judaica, vol. 6, col. 833.
[29] M.
Idel, Absorbing Perfections, Kabbalah and Interpretation, New Haven, Yale
University Press, 2002, pp. 150-152.
